Hospitals, clinics making changes to accommodate heavier patients, reduce the risk of injury to staf

Updated 11:42 pm, Sunday, May 20, 2012

LVN Tina Layne demonstrates a wider wheelchair at the UTMB Multispecialty Center and Stark Diabetes Clinic in League City.

LVN Tina Layne demonstrates a wider wheelchair at the UTMB Multispecialty Center and Stark Diabetes Clinic in League City.

Photo: James Nielsen

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An oversized blood draw chair is used to accommodate heavier patients at the UTMB Multispecialty Center and Stark Diabetes Clinic in League City

An oversized blood draw chair is used to accommodate heavier patients at the UTMB Multispecialty Center and Stark Diabetes Clinic in League City

Photo: James Nielsen

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Larger chairs in the lobby at the UTMB center.

Larger chairs in the lobby at the UTMB center.

Photo: James Nielsen, Chronicle

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UTMB program manager Peggy Castanie shows a bariatric exam table for heavier patients at the center.

UTMB program manager Peggy Castanie shows a bariatric exam table for heavier patients at the center.

Photo: James Nielsen, Chronicle

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Larger chairs in the lobby for heavier UTMB visitors.

Larger chairs in the lobby for heavier UTMB visitors.

Photo: James Nielsen, Chronicle

Hospitals prepare for a plus-size future

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Stretchers that can transport 500-pound patients. Wheelchairs designed for people who weigh 700 pounds. Toilets made to support half a ton.

Hospitals and clinics are preparing for a future in which almost half of the population will be obese.

"Obesity is just rampant," said Trudy Ivins, bariatric program director at Memorial Hermann-Memorial City, who has helped the hospital incorporate furniture and equipment for heavier patients and their families throughout its facilities.

The annual cost for obesity-related illnesses is estimated at $190 billion, but that doesn't count the price tag for plus-size furniture and equipment, which can cost 50 percent more than conventional equipment. Economists say those expenses ultimately will be passed on to everyone in the form of higher medical bills.

The committee's work led to the purchase of $285,000 in equipment, including power-assisted devices to help patients stand safely, lifts to help patients out of cars and air-assist devices to move patients between stretchers and beds.

Waiting room, too

The hospital district leases specialty beds for patients who are too heavy for standard hospital beds, generally those who weigh 400 pounds or more.

Two-thirds of American adults are overweight or obese, along with one-third of children. By 2030, 42 percent of adults are expected to be obese, many of them 100 pounds or more above a healthy weight.

Like most hospitals, Memorial Hermann-Memorial City originally bought speciality furniture and equipment for its bariatric weight-loss surgery department.

"But their family members were obese and would be in the waiting rooms and would be uncomfortable in the furniture we had," Ivins said.

And it wasn't just bariatric patients and their families.

Challenge of toilets

Love seats and larger chairs now are in waiting areas across the hospital. The obstetrics area was revamped, too, Ivins said, to accommodate women who were overweight before getting pregnant and gained even more during their pregnancies.

"You don't really notice it," Ivins said of the larger furniture. "It's all in the same fabric. They're wider. They're able to hold more weight."

Toilets presented an unexpected challenge. Memorial Hermann, like many public facilities, switched to wall-mounted toilets years ago to make cleaning easier.

"That obviously became an issue as we were taking care of a more obese population," Ivins said. "The wall can't hold all that weight."

The hospital is returning to floor-mounted toilets as it remodels, using support structures to reinforce wall-mounted toilets in the meantime.

All of that has come at a price, of course.

The hospital's furniture would have been replaced anyway, Ivins noted, but bariatric furniture is far more expensive.

It's not just that the pieces are bigger, requiring more materials to construct, he said. They also have to be reinforced and may require more costly production.

UTMB has opened several new clinics and outpatient facilities on the mainland and is building a new hospital in Galveston. Architects and employees are planning for the comfort and safety of larger patients.